When I started to shuffle through Nicholas Felton’s reports, I was trying to decide if I thought this was brilliant or a tad OCD/crazy. Borderline both, I believe that Mr. Felton was way ahead of the game. Think about it, now a days, our Facebook pages and twitter accounts allow us to tell the world what we are doing, eating, seeing and reading. But how many of us actually step back and examine how many boxes of pizza we ate or how many times we left the state on an annual basis?

To chronicle this information, archive it, and publish it for the world to see, only seems like the next logical step. I would love to know how many times I went to the movies, played a certain song on my Itunes or read non school books per year. For someone who loves organization and order, I think this report would be beneficial to most people. I am not sure if I could take it to the extent that he did, though, I do not see the any harm in the process.

Mr. Felton’s progression of information from 2005 to present is somewhat overwhelming. I wonder how long it takes for him to put this information into various charts and tally his findings. His 2010 report showcased his father’s life-a family tree and various maps of Berlin as well as some of his mother’s information such as the number of siblings she had.

Overall, I think this is brilliant. There is so much information we lose year to year because we forget to write it down or recognize the information. For something like your family history to be available in a report that is not only aesthetically pleasing but informational, is something I would love to have in my future to share with my family. The difference between placing this information on facebook or twitter, instead of in a report is the thought process that is behind it and the value that can be transmitted through one of these charts.

The map I chose to overlay on Google Earth was one of Brooklyn in 1906. I ‘googled’ historic maps of Brooklyn, and this was one of the most detailed I could find. I had never used Google Earth before and thought I would be able to simply place it over the existing burrow.

I was able to line up FT. Green Park, one of the largest in the area with the 1906 map. Though, even when I lessened the transparency, I could not match up the roads or many other land monuments. I feel with practice I will be able to better grasp this system of placing historical data over current maps used city to city.

Here is a screenshot:

Historical data is one of the most useful tools to determine patterns in our country’s history. Maps, photographs, interviews and speeches are compiled to make connections throughout decades, and make sense of the facts that we may have otherwise overlooked.

Slavery, is such a broad topic that spans throughout centuries and continents. We are told historical stories spanning from the English invading Africa to Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. To examine maps and compare how slavery unfolded in the United States with the North and South, is crucial to understanding the complexities, history and nature of this data.

This article examines the “points of analysis” ranging from the election of 1860 to town development in the Franklin and Augusta counties. The chart takes you through the historical maps and lays down the foundation of the data through points, facts and summaries of the events that occurred during specific years.

“Another approach to understanding the complex interplay between slavery and the forms of emergent modernity might be found closer to the ground, in a detailed comparison of two places which shared virtually everything except slavery.” Having a close comparison of the two counties and the role they played within slavery, demonstrates the importance of when and how slavery came to a close in these Southern counties.

There are distinct importances in marking historical data such as this article did in order to better understand how these things carried throughout history and continued for centuries.  Overall, I found the tools helpful in examining the evidence presented and the information behind the topic.

View Paris, France in a larger map

My security practices range from the devices I am using. When it comes to my computer, I have an ID password that must be typed out in order to enter my computer. Before, I did have many of my passwords saved to various websites including facebook, twitter, and my mason school email.

My phone is also pretty easily accessible for anyone to get into. Though, I understand more now than I did before, the number of hackings that occur daily, I have not changed many of my procedures to logging into websites. I am more aware of how computers can be tapped into and how easy it is to secure important information such as banking accounts and personal photos/emails.

I am more conscious now of what I keep up on my computer. I also realized that my google docs alone, holds many valuable passwords because of the documents that were shared with me during my internship. I hope more people step back and realize they can be hacked any day, and having back up and security is crucial to live in the technological world we are accustomed to today.